Germination: Paper Towel vs Rapid Rooter Root Riot Germination Pellets

I'm getting ready to start a new generation from seed, and I have two questions. 1. Is there any special advantage to using the pellets rather than the paper towel method? Last run, I popped the seeds in paper towels, moved them to 1" rockwool cubes,then into 4" rockwool embedded in a tray of Hydroton, and that worked great. 2. If I use the pellets, is there any issue with moving them to 4" rockwool when it's time? My hydro setup is working really well, so I don't want to fool with that. But the idea of germinating in pellets is attractive, since there's no danger of damaging the seed as there is with paper towels. The seeds are all from good breeders via Attitude, so I'm feeling OK about the quality. All help greatly appreciated.

IDK about pellets but i think Rapid Rooters would dry out too fast. If u have alot of free time and u dont mind constantly watering it might work. I always use a paper towel and pop them in rockwool as soon as they sprout.

You are right. The big advantage is not risking damage to the seed. I use root-riot cubes and have some matching blocks of coco (about 4", wrapped in kinda tea-bag material, not sure what they're called) which they then go in before they go into Hydroton in a flood and drain. Works well but they do tend to try and float in the pebbles until they get rooted in and hit the scrog screen.

i used rapid rooters last time around for my seeds and i had some popping up in 3 days, i just kept them in my humidity dome and they didnt dry out they stayed moist until i made it back the next day to water...

cues said:

You are right. The big advantage is not risking damage to the seed. I use root-riot cubes and have some matching blocks of coco (about 4", wrapped in kinda tea-bag material, not sure what they're called) which they then go in before they go into Hydroton in a flood and drain. Works well but they do tend to try and float in the pebbles until they get rooted in and hit the scrog screen.

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Ah, that's exactly the info I was looking for! Many thanks, Cues. The root-riot cubes I have arrived already wet; kind of a surprise, but I'll roll with it. I don't have matching coco blocks......do you think there would be any issue with using Grodan 4" cubes as the intermediate step before embedding in Hydroton? I've got a bunch of them on hand. Ciao!

Grodan cubes sound ok. My root-riots come dry but I get them in the kits with a propogator base. Maybe you got a bag of them? As I said, the only problem is they tend to 'float' in my hydroton flood and drain until rooted in but I just keep pushing them back down.

cues said:

Grodan cubes sound ok. My root-riots come dry but I get them in the kits with a propogator base. Maybe you got a bag of them? As I said, the only problem is they tend to 'float' in my hydroton flood and drain until rooted in but I just keep pushing them back down.

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Yes, I got 50 root riot cubes, bulk packaged in big ziplocks and wet. Like these. I've got a propagation tray set, heat mat (I've never used one but I figured WTF), and humidity dome. So this time I'm going to skip the paper towels and just put the beans in the cubes, and keep them wet. I've heard a lot of horror stories about those heat mats cooking & killing the seeds. I'm in Florida, no fear of things getting too cold, so I'm going to skip the pad.

Oh, and I just accidentally discovered these Rockwool Block Covers . I had a problem with mold and algae on the tops of the Grodan blocks - these look like a good defense.

Thanks again, Cues, for your knowledge and help. Peace!

You're right about heat mats. I do my veg and herbs (seriously, nothing dodgy!) in a combination of normal propogators and a heated one to start earlier in the season. My normal ones need watering about once a week but my heated one is every 2 days minimum.